


Corn Maze

by vmeemo



Series: Ghostly Love [4]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen, ghost au, out of date but I don't care, this is in fact a halloween story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22406320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vmeemo/pseuds/vmeemo
Summary: Four asks Three to help her out with something. A ghost tags along for the fun of it.
Series: Ghostly Love [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618885
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Corn Maze

“So you want me to work with you in a corn maze?”

Those were the words that Three said to the person across from her.

“Yes Three, I want you to work with me in a maze. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

The person in question who said that was one of Three’s acquaintances, Four.

“So,” Three said, “to make sure I’m caught up here: You want me, to come volunteer with you. In a corn maze up in the middle of nowhere, dress up in Halloween clothes, and scare people?”

“That’s the plan!” Four happily said.

Three pinched the bridge of her nose. This was not what she was expecting today. All she was doing was watching tv with Eight, watching a show with a name that escapes her for a moment, when someone knocked on their door.

Three tells Eight to stay put and goes towards the door. When she opens it, she sees Four, someone she hasn’t seen in a while. Four wanted to talk to Three about something, and no it couldn’t be over the phone, so Four heads towards the living room where Eight is.

Eight being smart, decides to hide somewhere where Four won’t see her, and freak the hell out. Eight remembers Four, she saw them at the mall once when she tagged along with Three. Good times.

Once Four sits down on the armrest, Three on the couch, and Eight hiding somewhere, Four tells Three why they’re here.

“Come on Three, it’ll be fun! Don’t be a sourpuss about it. It’ll be for one night.”

Three looks at Four, who has a hopeful look on their face.

“…What’s in it for me?” Three says. If Four wants her to do this, then she would like a reason to do it.

Four’s eyes widen a tad, not really expecting Three to go for it.

“Well… You get to be the person who holds the chainsaw. How’s that?” Four says.

Three puts her hand on her chin, thinking this over. On one hand, holding a chainsaw and scaring everyone with it is metal as hell. On the other hand…

“It’s a good deal don’t get me wrong,” Three said to Four, “but I need something else as well. Otherwise…”

Three is cut off as she hears a ringing sound coming from the kitchen. Three tells Four to give her a minute, and walks towards the kitchen. Once she’s in the kitchen away from Four, Three looks around the room for the source of the ringing, only to find Eight’s transparent form nearby on the kitchen counter. Three looks at Eight, unamused at the fact that Eight called her over and was about to turn around when Eight moves in front of her.

Three sighs, “What do you want Eight? I’m trying to deal with this thing Four’s asking me to do. And by that I mean not going.”

Eight looked at Three, face unchanging. Three gave a look back. “I’m not going, and you can’t convince me to do anything this time. I know all your tricks.

Eight raised a brow, made a sound that sounded like a chuckle. Three hated that sound. It makes her want to do whatever she wants. But she has to be strong. Resist the urge to let cute girl boss her around.

“…Fine you win. I’ll do the stupid corn maze.” Eight smiles, hugs Three, and goes off to do… Whatever ghosts do when they live with someone and there’s company over.

With that out of the way, (and being disappointed in herself for letting Eight convince her by simply chuckling a bit.) Three goes back to the living room where Four is.

“Ah, you’re back. Did you figure out what the ringing sound was about?” Four asks.

“Yeah,” Three said, “it was just an unknown number. Figured it might’ve been some guy trying to sell me stuff. The usual.”

Four nods, and Three sits back down on the couch.

“So,” Four questioned, “have you thought about doing work at the maze?”

Three answered, “Yes I have, and I am going to join in.” Before Four opens their mouth, Three cuts them off. “Under one condition.” “Anything.” “You treat me to dinner. It doesn’t have to be fancy or anything, it just needs to be food. Are we good on that?”

Four puts a hand on their chin, thinking it over. After what seems to be like minutes, they nod to themselves, and looks to Three.

“You got yourself a deal.”

———

_(Few weeks later, at the corn maze)_

‘Damn it’s cold.’

Three thought this as she was standing inside the corn maze. About three-quarters of the way in. Not quite near the end, but not close enough to be halfway either.

And she was cold. She was cold despite wearing her winter clothes. Granted she still had to look the part of a hockey-masked chainsaw murderer, so not everything was winterized. Because of that, she was cold in parts of her body. There wasn’t even a fake shed with a heater for her to use and hide out in until people came by. She was in a corn maze, cold, and standing on muddy ground, which wasn’t helping much either.

At the very least, she wasn’t alone in this cold maze.

Eight tagged along with her. Said that she wanted to send some time with her, conveniently forgetting that she was the one who talked her into doing this in the first place.

Although there was something… Different about Eight tonight. There was something different about her, and she can’t quite place her finger on. In fact, she hasn’t seen Eight since they got into the maze. After Three got into the costume and was placed where she was, Eight told Three that she needed to do something and floated off somewhere. That was about 30 minutes ago.

Now, Three wasn’t really worried about Eight. She’s a ghost. She can take care of herself, and because Halloween was close, if she was seen people would think she’s just a prop. But considering Eight convinced her to do this in the first place and she wasn’t even here to chat or anything, Three was more than concerned at what is going on with Eight and her odd behaviour tonight.

‘I’ll talk to Eight about it later though. For now though, I just gotta make it through the night. Really though, its a corn maze. What’s the worst thing that could happen?’

———

_(Inside the maze…)_

“Come on Marie, at least _pretend_ to be scared for a bit.”

“Callie, I’m only doing this because I had nothing better to do. I could’ve just said no, but you were insistent on me coming.”

Callie let out a huff, “Come on Marie, corn mazes are fun! The amount of work put into it is just amazing. And everyone else was busy, and you weren’t doing anything so it all works out!”

Marie doesn’t say anything back to her, and keeps walking along the path of the maze. Callie, not wanting to be left behind, catches back up with Marie to make their way through the maze. After a few minutes of walking and moments of being jumped by the various costumed actors - with Callie getting the brunt of said scares - the two cousins eventually reach a clearing that’s lightly lit up, but not enough to be too bright.

At first there was nothing there from what the two girls could see. Just a lightly lit clearing and the path going farther into the maze. With that in mind, the two walk a bit into the clearing, expecting something or someone to show up at any moment.

That’s when Callie and Marie heard something. A noise all so familiar in most horror films: The chainsaw.

They turn their heads towards the source of the noise. And they see a person, walking out of the corn walls, with a chainsaw revved up, and a emotionless hockey mask on display. And they were looking straight at them.

Then, to Callie’s dismay, the masked person started walking towards them. As they walked closer and closer, the two cousins were backing up until their backs brushed against the corn wall.

With the sounds of the revved up chainsaw, there was only one thing Callie could do; Scream. Scream very loudly. Then, Callie looked at the person in front of them, only to find something unusual.

The person was backing up. And not in a ‘did my job, go forward’ kind of backing up. The kind of backing up that only meant something even _worse_ was behind them. Callie looks at Marie, who was already looking behind her with a face of… disappointment it seemed?

With that in mind, Callie looks behind her.

Only to find a scarecrow blankly looking back at her. A regular, run-of-the-mill scarecrow.

And like that, all the fear that Callie had dissipated. Now there was only disappointment, and the overwhelming urge to just _laugh_ at her once tormentor.

So she did just that. She laughed, along with Marie at the person who is supposed to be the _image_ of fear and terror, only to be halted by a simple scarecrow. She laughed until tears came out of her eyes, and she had to stop herself in order to not pass out from the lack of air.

But then Callie noticed that there wasn’t any laughter coming from Marie anymore. Callie turns to face her, and notices that Marie’s face has paled, and a look of terror is now on her face. Callie, wondering what has got Marie so spooked, goes to say something to her.

But then she’s interrupted by a hand touching her shoulder. Callie straightens up, now feeling uneasy about what’s behind her now.

‘It’s just a scarecrow,’ Callie thought to herself, ‘There’s probably something inside it making the arms move that’s all.’

_“Has anyone ever told you to not laugh at someone? Especially when they’re trying their best?”_

There was a voice behind Callie and Marie now. The two girls look at each other, each pale in the face. And they turn to look at what’s behind them.

They see the scarecrow, same as before. The mouth wasn’t moving, but it was speaking, its hands made from sticks and straw on their shoulders. The look was still blank like before, and yet that only added to the uneasy feeling more.

The two girls rip themselves away from the scarecrows grip, and get some distance away from it. Callie turns to look at it again, only for all of her blood to freeze at what she sees;

The scarecrow is off its stand, and is walking towards them.

 _“What’s wrong?”_ The scarecrow asked, _“Are you afraid of lil’ ol me? I’m shocked, considering you were openly mocking me and my friend not even two seconds ago. But such is life I suppose.”_

As the scarecrow comes closer to the cousins, Callie is paralyzed at the _thing_ she sees, unable to will her body to move. Terror is the only thing that exists in her mind, because the site in front of her should be impossible. Afterall, scarecrows can’t walk or talk, so why is this one able to?

Before she can come up with a rational thought on _why_ , she sees Marie punch the scarecrow right in its face, hitting it with enough force to launch the head off its body.

With the head gone from its shoulders, the scarecrow slumps back first onto the dirt, not moving an inch. Callie catches her breath, now able to relax now that the walker is now laying ‘dead’ on the ground. At least, as dead as it can get for an inanimate scarecrow.

Callie looks to Marie, “Thanks for that.”

“Not a problem.” Marie says, “This night has been an… Interesting one to say the least.”

“No kidding…”

With the two cousins now calmer than before, they look behind them to see the hockey masked actor, who was still there despite the scarecrow walking at them. Callie, who figures the poor person might be rooted there out of fear, goes to comfort them.

“You doing alright there? I mean, that was an interesting thing we just saw after all.” No response. “Ok, still in fear mode, fair enough. But, at the very least, everything’s a-okay.”

She then sees the figure lift a finger up, and makes a pointing gesture behind her.

“R-really?” Callie exclaimed, “Still that shaken up? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure Marie punched its head off. And last I checked, things need heads in order to, you know, function? Everything ok-”

_“Yes, I’m ok, no need to worry about me. After all, it’s not like I got my head removed or anything.”_

Callie stopped once she heard that voice. ‘There’s no way,’ she thought, with the terror creeping back again, ‘I _saw_ Marie punch it clean off. There’s no way the parts inside it should still be working. So why-’

Callie was cut off as she heard Marie scream behind her. Callie, against all logic, reason, and sanity, slowly turned to look behind her.

Only for the primal emotion of fear and terror to come back in full force once she sees what is happening right in front of her eyes.

The scarecrow, the very same one that Marie punched the head off of, is standing back up. And it has a brand new head attached to it. A pumpkin, Callie noticed. One with the insides hollowed out, and a terrifying face carved on it. If a pumpkin could grin more, it would be doing so right now.

 _“But then again…”_ The scarecrow, no _monster_ continued, _“I got a perfectly new head. One that’s even better than before. So I’d say that’s a good trade, don’t you think? Now…”_

_“Why don’t I give you a night you won’t ever forget?”_

Then the monsters head, no, the entire body of the scarecrow, erupted with blue flames. Flames that did not burn the body, only made it more menacing, with the flames forming claws on the straw hands, the eyes now roaring bright with light blue fire, its haunting laughter echoing through the night.

That was the moment when Callie couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing this nightmare in front of her made her every thought go towards only one conclusion:

Run. Run and _hope_ that the thing can’t leave the maze. With, or without her cousin. And so she listened to that thought. She ran away from the flaming monster, and towards what she hopes is the exit to the maze. She doesn’t have the time to look and see if Marie was running from it, for the thought that if she even stops for a moment, that _thing_ will get her.

The running however, has impact: Callie can now see the exit to the maze.

‘I- I’m almost there.’ Callie felt only relief as she neared the exit, ‘I’ll be out of this nightmare soon, and once I am, I am _never_ going into another corn maze again as long as I live. I’m sure Marie would feel the same.’

Callie, with one last burst of energy, leaves the maze, into safety. Callie takes this moment to catch her breath, tired from the running, and mentally exhausted from the ordeal she was apart of.

Looking up, she sees Marie, who also just exited out of the maze, just as exhausted as she is. Relieved that Marie made it out, she goes over to her.

“You know… I think I’d be alright with NOT doing another maze for awhile don’t you think?”

Marie lightly chuckled. “Ooohhh yeah. Not for a _long_ time.”

As the two cousins walked away from the maze, they were being watched from the walls of the corn. If they were still near the maze, they would have heard two individuals whispering to each other,

“Don’t you think that was a _little bit_ overkill?”

“Hey come on Three, it was _so_ worth it, just for their faces alone.”

“…Okay, you make a good point, it was pretty awesome. But it was still a little much.”

“See? Worth it. And you get food from Four as well! It’s a win win for everybody. Well, except for those two. Those two are gonna have nightmares about me for _weeks_.”

“Let’s just get back to our jobs. Shall we?”

_“Oh yes. We shall.”_

———

_(3 days after Halloween, Three’s house)_

“Three, I can’t thank you enough for helping me with the maze. Some people bailed at the last minute and you were the only person I could think of.”

“Don’t mention it. Thanks for the food.”

Three and Four were currently seated at the table, with the greasy aroma of the fish ‘n chips at the center of the table. One can never go wrong with deep fried halibut and fries after all.

As the two eat and do some small talk, something - or rather, _someone_ \- catches Three’s attention.

Eight floating behind Four, with an arm reaching out for their food. Three knows for a fact that Eight can’t eat, and is purely doing it to scare Four. On one hand, Three should really stop Eight from doing this, because she’s supposed to be _not_ be seen by anyone, least they freak out and possibly call an exorcist. On the other hand, Four is like her only friend, and doesn’t really believe in the supernatural, so they might just think Eight’s a Halloween prop she never put away.

“Three?” Four cuts off her train of thought, “Your kinda just staring at me… There something on my face?”

“Oh- OH! No, no sorry ’bout that. Something just caught my eye behind you. Turns out it was nothing.” ‘Alright, good save Three. They won’t catch on.’

Four looks at Three with a brow raised, not entirely believing her. But they shrug their shoulders and go back to eating their fish.

‘That was close. Couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if-’

“You know it’s rude to dismiss someone like that right?”

Three freezes up, and her eyes snap over to Four, who _also_ hears the remark. To Three’s horror, Four looks behind her and sees Eight, who has the _biggest_ shit eating look imaginable.

Three gets up from her chair and goes over to where Four’s sitting, and sees them with a wide eyed expression. Whether it was surprise or fear, Three couldn’t tell.

Then Four turns their head to Three, the expression on their face changing to one of seriousness.

“Explain.” Four said, “Explain why there is a ghost in your house. And I want to know the full story.”

Three lets out a groan, “Fine, I’ll tell you everything… Just go sit on the couch…”

———

“And that’s basically what’s been happening.”

Three leaned back onto the couch. She was exhausted from explaining everything to Four about Eight. About how they met, how she tagged along with her to the mall, and how she was the one who convinced her to do the corn maze. And how she probably gave two people nightmares about flaming scarecrows.

Throughout the story, Four sat and listened with interest. Once in awhile, they’d ask to clarify parts of the story, but managed to understand everything for the most part.

Once the tale was finished, Four turned her head towards Eight, who was currently hovering nearby Three with an unreadable expression. Four looks at the two of them, breathes in, and says,

“You know, out of everything I would’ve ever have heard in my life, a friend of mine having a roommate as a ghost was not one of them. It’s kinda funny actually.”

Three sighs, “Good to see that you’re finding enjoyment out of this.”

Eight giggles at this remark, which prompts Three to smack her, only to fail as the hand goes through her. So Eight responds with a light smack against her leg, and succeeding.

Four watch on as it turned into a smack off between the two of them. They look at the time, and-

“Ah damn.” Hearing this, Three and Eight stop what they’re doing, and look at Four. Eight is the first one to speak,

“What is it? Something wrong?”

Four looks back at the others, lets out a response, “Well, I was only going to stay for dinner, and then head back home, but it’s really late and I don’t like driving in the dark. Do you two mind if I stay here for the night?”

The two look at each other, then back to Four. “Sure, I don’t see a problem with it.” Three says. Four smiles, “Oh thank you so much!”

Three waves them off, signalling that its not a big deal.

“It’ll be like a sleepover!” Eight says with joy.

With the new goal in mind, Three, Four, and Eight set up for the night, to enjoy the ‘sleepover’ as Eight calls it.

———

_(Later that night…)_

Three wakes up in her room, unable to sleep. She looks to the side to see Eight beside her, sleeping without a care in the world. Three slowly gets out of the bed, opens the door, and makes her way down to the kitchen.

When she gets there though, she wasn’t expecting Four to be up as well. And definitely wasn’t expecting them to be going through her fridge either.

“Can’t sleep either?” she says to Four.

Three could see Four jump a bit, clearly not expecting someone else to be up. Four turns to where they heard the voice, and upon seeing Three, their face goes red, embarrassed that they were caught in the act.

A sigh escapes their lips, “Yeah… Can’t sleep either. Figured I’d try eating something. Thought that maybe some fruit or something might put me back down. What about you?”

Rubbing her neck, Three responds, “Just couldn’t sleep. Sometimes I go to the living room and space out there for a bit. Maybe do what your doing. I dunno.”

Four nods in silent agreement.

Once Three and Four grab some late night snacks, they sit down on the couch. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of spoon klinking against yogurt packet, and the chewing of pear. It was peaceful.

“Hey Three?” Four whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I wanna know something. Something that’s been on my mind since I’ve been here.”

Three looks at Four with interest, “What is it?”

Four turns their head to Three, “I wanna know if you have a crush on Eight.”

What. What the what.

Three can feel her face going red, and tries to form a response. To deny something like that. But finds herself unable to do it. The words keep getting caught in her throat.

Four chuckles at her reaction and the way she can’t deny it either. “That gives me my answer. I’d say go for it, but there’s a reason you haven’t right?”

Formulating a response (and trying to get the red away from her face), Three quietly sighs, “Yeah… There’s a reason I haven’t done anything yet. And you know as well as I do what that reason is.”

“Well,” Four says, “I say go for it. Do it anyway.”

Three looks at them, flabbergasted, “Didn’t you just hear what I said? It’s impossible. Can’t be done.”

“Well,” Four says with edge in their voice, “Do it anyway. She makes you happy doesn’t she? And before I saw you again at the mall, you were not all there. Now I see the two of you, and I see you happy.” Four lowers their voice, “Is it wrong of me to see you better?”

Three doesn’t say anything. How can she? Four’s right: Eight does make her happy. She’s there to liven up her day, and helps her sleep. Even if it is an unorthodox way of doing it. And it works. Over the course of Eight being here, she’s fallen for her.

Turning to them, Three opens her mouth, “You’re not wrong that I like her in that way. I _want_ to say that I like her, I _want_ to hug her with everything I have, and I _want_ for her to stay with me.”

“But I can’t ask that of her. She’s a ghost. A spirit. She has to pass sometime. And when she does,” Three can feel her eyes watering, “I’ll be alone again.”

As she says this, Fours shuffles closer to Three and hugs her. Four softly says, “You won’t be alone… I have a feeling that if you were to tell her how you feel, she’d stay with you, passing be damned.”

“How can you be so sure?” Three said, tears running down her face.

A small smile forms on their face, “I got a hunch.”

Sniffling, Three hugs back. And they sit in the silence, not letting go. After a bit, Three pulls out of the hug, looking a bit better than before.

“Thanks for that. I… Needed that.”

“What are friends for?” Four says, that small smile on their face.

With that, they go back to eating their nightly snacks. Once they’re done, Three goes back to bed, and moves a little bit closer to Eight. She closes her eyes, and lets sleep take her once more.

———

Once morning comes, the three people of the house wake up. Four makes breakfast for them, having fun and enjoying themselves this fine morning. Three and Four have the silent agreement to keep the last nights talk between the two of them.

Though all good things have to come to an end sooner or later, as Four now has to leave.

“You sure you can’t stay a little longer?” Eight says to Four, upset that they have to leave.

Chuckling, Four responds, “Eight, I can come back anytime for another visit. It was fun meeting you. Made my day more interesting. Afterall, its not everyday I get to meet a ghost.”

Everyone laughs at that.

“Oh yeah, before I go…” Four looks over to Three, “Remember what we talked about last night.”

She nods, “I remember.”

Eight looks at the two of them, “Did… Something happen last night?”

“Not really,” Four quickly says “we just had some late night snacks, talked for a bit. Gave each other advice. Nothing special.”

The ghost looks at Four, then at Three. She shrugs, not pressing and taking the answer.

“Either way, hope you two have a nice day.”

Four leaves, with the two waving them off. Once they see Four’s car go around the block, they head inside. Three glances at Eight, Four’s words echoing inside her mind,

_“I have a feeling that if you were to tell her how you feel, she’d stay with you, passing be damned.”_

‘Let’s hope your hunch is right.’

‘I don’t think I’d be able to handle it otherwise.’

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of an overall series, I just kinda wanted to put out the seasonal ones out first.  
> It'll be updated when it comes together a bit more. But I do hope you enjoyed it at least!


End file.
